Page 90 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

“Val!” I shouted, and she was immediately on alert at my side. “With me.”

This guy had to have been dropped on the head as a kid. He couldn’t be so stupid that he thought coming here and threatening my girl was a good idea.

By the time I made it to the barn doors, I could hear him telling her to go home with him. I didn’t doubt her for a second. Iknew Reece’s heart, and this guy wasn’t even a memory in it. He was just a lesson from the past that would one day be forgotten.

“I’ve got a much better idea, baby,” the idiot actually dared to say.

Every semblance of restraint I had inside me snapped at the sound of his words.

“No one calls her baby but me,” I growled, lurching forward for him.

There was no way he was ever touching her again. He came here thinking he could threaten her, that he could hurt my girl, and I’d let him just walk away.

The yip of surprise he gave as I hauled his body over the top of the stable had me growling in satisfaction. His stupid little stick clattered to the ground as I threw him in the dirt at my feet.

“You’ve no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this,” I told him, a sneer coming to my lips.

Camden started crawling backward, scurrying toward the door like he thought he had a chance to escape.

“You can’t do this,” he hurried out. “Don’t you know who my father is?”

“I seem to remember you mentioning…No, wait. I don’t actually care.” I reached down and picked him up by the collar again as Camden scrambled to his feet. “How many times did you hit her?”

All the blood drained from his face as dear old Camden realized what was about to go down.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he went with. “I never?—”

“Don’t waste your final breath on a lie, Cammy boy. You’re not that smart, are you? You keep your files on your laptop. You confess in places you don’t even check for cameras. I have every word recorded.”

I nodded over to the stable as Camden shook his head, his eyes darting about the barn as he desperately searched for a way out. For something that could save him.

I didn’t know who this guy thought I was. Obviously, he was walking out of here. I wasn’t going to sully the beautiful future I had ahead of me with the woman he hadn’t been smart enough to appreciate. That didn’t mean my fist wasn’t meeting his face before I sent him on his way though.

“Here’s what’s happening now, Camden,” I said slowly to make sure that he was actually listening. I stalked forward, slowly herding him out of the barn and away from Reece. “You’re going to get back in your piece of shit car, and you’re going to head back to whatever cesspit you crawled out of. I have a man in the city who’s going to keep an eye on you. He’s already digging into your past and pulling up all your dirty little secrets for me. I’m going to put those with what I already have, and I’m going to send them to your father. If you’re quick enough, you might get home and cover up some of the worst of it, but I doubt you’re smart enough to pull it off.”

Camden started shaking his head. His hand went into his pocket, and he pulled out his car keys with shaky hands. Whatever this guy was into, it wasn’t good. But it worked in our favor that he was scared of Daddy more.

“Daddy’s going to put you on a leash, Camden. He can’t afford to have an embarrassment like you running around in public. And do you know what you’re going to do? You’re going to thank me for letting him do that. For not finding a pretty little spot on the ranch where no one would find you and burying you there. If I never see your face again, the matter ends there. But if you dare to even breathe in this woman’s direction again, you won’t like what I do next. Do you hear me?”

For a moment, it was almost like Camden found his balls as he gritted his teeth and actually hissed at me.

The dude was crazier than I’d first thought.

“You won’t get away with this,” he finally said, pulling his quivering shoulders back as he pretended to be a man. “I willruinyou. I don’t need to be in this backwater town to do it. Are you really ready to throw everything away forher?”

Camden jutted his chin in Reece’s direction, looking at her like she was trash, and I swear to god my heart leaped for joy when he did.

Because I’d just been waiting for an excuse.

My fist plowed into Camden’s nose, which gave a satisfying crunch, and he sank to the floor, clutching his face and crying.

“I seem to remember telling you that you weren’t allowed to breathe in her direction, Camden. This isn’t a good sign for how your future’s about to go if you can’t even get that bit right.” I tsked like I was talking to a child, and Val took that as her sign to let him know what she thought of the whole situation as well.

Hunching down, teeth bared, Val crept closer, snapping her jaws at the man who was crying on the ground. It totally went against her nature. She was usually so empathetic when she saw someone in pain. But apparently even Val could tell that this guy was no good, and she was ready to protect her own.

I squatted down, running a hand over Val’s head as I met Camden’s watery gaze.

“This is the part where you run away, Cammy boy,” I mocked.

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